Criminal Fraud Powerhouse

Toggle menu

BCL Partner, Shaul Brazil quoted in Law360 on EBA Danske Probe

BCL Partner, Shaul Brazil quoted in Law360 on EBA Danske Probe

28Feb2019

With the European Banking Authority’s (AMB) recently awarded status as the European Union’s head anti-money laundering watchdog, it has now launched a new investigation into possible regulatory failures related to Danske Bank, Law360 reports.

Law360 writes:

‘The European Banking Authority has already fired a warning shot that should make lenders take notice: A marquee investigation into possible regulatory failures that allowed Danske Bank to process some €200 billion in suspicious transactions over nearly a decade without facing scrutiny.

The EBA’s investigation — coupled with independent probes by German, French, U.K. and Swedish watchdogs — sends a warning to banks, accountants and other financial services operating in the bloc to expect a more stringent enforcement of AML legislation, as dozens of employees face scrutiny in addition to the bank itself.’

BCL partner, Shaul Brazil was quoted in the article*:

“This is a wake-up call for the European Commission. One thing might lead to another, and we might now get greater oversight by the EBA over domestic regulators to ensure that directives are properly and appropriately enforced in member states.”

‘Brussels also called on the EBA to investigate whether Danish and Estonian regulators followed the rules in handling the Danske case and whether they did enough to prevent it. According to Brazil, it is likely that the EBA will be playing closer attention to the supervisory work being carried out by financial regulators.’

Shaul Brazil is a partner at BCL specialising in business crime and regulatory enforcement, acting for individuals and companies in complex cross-border matters. He has extensive experience advising on multi-jurisdictional corruption and fraud investigations, asset recovery proceedings (in the UK and overseas), and extradition proceedings (in particular, politically motivated requests). He has acted in numerous high-profile investigations and prosecutions brought by the SFO and many other UK and overseas enforcement authorities.